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Saint Xavier University (13) took on Saginaw Valley State University (Mich.) this past Saturday to lose 32-10. It was a very tough game for the Cougars. The offense was held up well by Saginaw holding them up to 117 total yards, 107 passing and just 10 yards rushing.
Saginaw is a NCAA D2 school, going into this game on a 3-game losing streak to other NCAA D2 schools. Cougars came off of a 58-7 win over Judson University as well at a 3-game winning streak.
The Cougars had many penalties throughout the game that killed drives and gave opportunities for Saginaw. Some were personal fouls that gave up 15 yard penalties.
The weather also seemed to be an issue for the Cougars, as it was a cold and wet game that saw some bad snaps, dropped passes, and a few duck passes.
To top it all off, the visible frustration from the players and coaches were unsuppressed, and who could blame them? They were in a tough game against a good team, which is a predicament for any team to be in.
The game started with a safety from Saginaw after they blocked a Cougar punt on the first drive of the game. Saginaw would go up 2-0 to start the game.
The rest of the first quarter saw 3 and outs and 4 and outs from the Cougars and Cardinals. The second quarter saw the Cougars getting on the board with a 35 yard field goal from Senior Kicker Peyton Benes to take the lead 3-2.
Halfway through the same quarter was a Cardinal touchdown, the first touchdown of the game with an 8 yard rush to go up 9-3.
Saginaw would get another touchdown with 50 seconds left in the half to make the score 15-3 after the Cardinals failed to make a 2 point conversion.
The Cougars tried to get down field with less than a minute in which they failed to get a first down. The Cougars would punt the ball, but the Cardinals would get a hand on the punt and block it, which set them up for a chip shot field goal before half.
Saginaw would convert and make the score 18-3 at the end of the first half. The third quarter saw no scores by either team.
The fourth quarter saw two scores from Saginaw: a passing touchdown from 16 yards out and rushing touchdown from 15 yards out from their quarterback. Both of those back to back scored drives to make the game 32-3.
The Cougars would get a passing touchdown late in the game from Senior Quarterback Stuart Ross to Senior Wide Receiver Kyle Quinn.
This game was tough on the Cougars offense; the offensive line and quarterback had a lot of miscommunications and breakdowns.
Ross was sacked 7 that game. There were some times that it was on Ross not throwing the ball and just taking sacks. Other times, it was the offensive line not giving Ross enough time to do something with the ball.
They also struggled to get the ball to their playmakers throughout the game. Saginaw kept Grad Student Wide Receiver Justin Pringle under wraps the whole game with just two catches of twenty yards.
The Cougars tried to get Pringle in on the running game but that didn’t work either, keeping him to just three attempts with eight yards.
Even though they couldn’t get it to Pringle, Quinn was targeted more and showed his reliability with four catches, 68 yards, and a touchdown.
The defense played pretty hard the whole game. It was another one of those games where the defense was doing their job for the most part, but the offense couldn’t keep the defense off of the field.
The defense gave the offense some opportunities with field position, but the offense just couldn’t get anything going.
Hopefully, the Cougars can clean up some of the problems as they are set to take on a winless Saint Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa next Saturday at 1 p.
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